Presenting EduStars of 2013 – FACE, KNOLSKAPE and Trusanga

EduStars 2013 proved it again that there is no stopping the innovation in the Indian education startup space. Over the last four months, we received more than 200 startup applications from all across the country. The competition among startups was tough and shortlisting the top few was even tougher. From the top 15 startups selected as finalists in the monthly rounds, we finally came down to the following 8 finalists who presented at EduStars 2013 finale today. And FACE, KNOLSKAPE and Trusanga are adjudged as the three EduStars of the year 2013.

FACE is an employability skills development company, catering to students pursuing higher education in colleges or universities as well as entry level recruits in organizations across various industry sectors. In a span of four years, this Coimbatore based startups has trained more than 3,50,000 candidates across 350+ educational institutions and corporate organizations.

KNOLSKAPE is a gaming and simulation software company focusing on management training, assessments and research. Since 2008, they have been working with managers from Fortune 500 companies, students at top B-schools, academicians and recruiters with their simulation based products and services. They have been developing engaging, immersive and real life-like products and services such as business simulations, multimedia case studies, virtual learning tools.

Trusanga is a research driven and innovation oriented company founded by 2 IIT-Kharagpur alumni with a passion to redefine learning and development. They have developed analytical intelligence engines that aid exploration and assessment of abilities, and pro-actively lay real time learning paths. Their vision is to develop a holistic learning development ecosystem that is founded on electronic media and leverages analytical intellect. Their systems are used by students, institutes, and corporates.

Creya Learning focuses on inculcating life skills, application oriented problem solving skills, creativity and innovation in the young generation. It offers experiential learning programs with an innovative delivery -­ curriculum and training to K-12 institutions. Believing in the philosophy of constructivism, children are encouraged to build their own understanding and knowledge through experiences and reflect on those experiences by asking questions, exploring the surroundings and making an assessment of their discoveries.

Divi offers a tablet based learning solution that can be used by students and teachers inside as well as outside classrooms. Divi helps students learn and educators teach better in classrooms by using personal tablets and Wi-Fi. They are targeting the K-12 educational institutions and coaching centers. Divi provides features on the tablet that gives control of the classroom environment and an instant feedback mechanism for teachers. It saves their time & energy which was spent on administrative chores.

Learning Outcomes! (LO!) helps you understand the ‘story behind the grades. It empowers schools to measure learning and teaching outcomes and convert routine school assessments into a personalized learning experience. They are trying to solve the problem of measuring and plugging in the quality gaps that occur in K-12 education by using data to improve learning and teaching in school. LO! captures granular data for assessment and activities that occur regularly in schools. This data when analyzed provides insights about the way students are learning and the way teachers can address the gaps present in the learning.

MyKlassRoom is a blend of social networking and e-learning, which aims to transform the traditional classroom education to an online collaborative platform. It aims to improve students’ performance by reducing the time needed for mastering knowledge by increasing engagement and retention. It is a cloud based platform which allows other vendors to build applications on top of the platform as well. The simulations, business games and animation provide the experiential learning component to the students.

The Curriculum Company (TCC) – TCC creates and implements curriculum based instructional design and develop print materials for classrooms which are inclusive and easy-to-use solutions for both teachers and children. At the heart of TCC solution is a unique and researched Instructional Design (ISO-Certified), which is easy to implement every day in the classroom, backed by the time-tested Bloom’s Taxonomy and a scientific assessment framework. They use inventive strategies to create solutions that integrate print along with technology.